Australian wins cycle race stage

Matthew Goss claimed victory in stage two of the race

Stage two of the cycling race Tour of Britain has been won by Matthew Goss of Australia.

Bus passengers and motorists had been warned to expect severe disruption as the race headed to Berkshire.

The cycle race, which started in London on Sunday, ran 90 miles (145km) from Milton Keynes to Newbury on Monday, where it finished in Parkway.

Mr Goss crossed the finishing line with a time of three hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds.

Park Way, St Mary's Road and Park Street were closed until 1800 BST to allow race support staff access to the finishing area in Victoria Park.

Newbury Buses said no services would be cancelled but warned buses were likely to be running late in the area.

Police also put rolling road blocks around the town centre in place between 1230 and 1415 BST to escort the cyclists as they completed the stage in Park Way.

While Victoria Park Nursery School closed for the day as the roads around it were shut.

Norman Fryer-Saxby, manager of Newbury Buses, said before the race: "We have no planned cancellations, but we do expect services to be severely disrupted and to run late as a result of the rolling road closures.

"Newbury Buses supports the race coming to Newbury and we will do our best to operate our bus services during the disruption to traffic."

Italian Alessandro Petacchi took the yellow jersey after storming through a sprint finish on the opening stage of the race in London.

Petacchi, just back from a 12-month drug ban, finished ahead of Britain's Rob Hayles on the 53-mile stage.

The tour is set to finish in Liverpool on Sunday.